Davidson Trust Co. Buys 10,155 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Davidson Trust Co. boosted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 50,108 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 10,155 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 10.7% of Davidson Trust Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Davidson Trust Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,953,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $9,941,000. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 2.6% during the second quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 94,120 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,816,000 after buying an additional 2,373 shares during the period. Real Talk Capital LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1.6% during the first quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $860,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 922,524 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $457,119,000 after acquiring an additional 33,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 285,163 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $147,700,000 after purchasing an additional 11,770 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.4%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $459.38 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.67, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $485.51 and a 200-day moving average of $503.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The company had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Goldman Sachs and other firms reiterated bullish views (Buy/strong‑buy) citing Azure-led AI growth and compounding AI product cycles, which supports upside to MSFT valuation. Goldman Sachs coverage
• Positive Sentiment: New product / commercial traction: Microsoft is pushing agentic AI (Copilot Checkout, agentic retail automation) and expanding partner deployments (SymphonyAI, Fiserv), which can drive monetization across Microsoft 365 and Azure. Copilot retail initiatives
• Positive Sentiment: Enterprise demand signal: CIO and sell‑side surveys still point to Microsoft as a top beneficiary of rising IT/AI budgets — a structural tailwind for Azure and Copilot monetization. CIO survey / analyst notes
• Neutral Sentiment: Community‑first data‑center plan: Microsoft pledged to cover higher electricity costs, replenish water and pay local taxes to avoid community backlash — positive PR and long‑term permit facilitation, but with unclear near‑term cost impact. Data center initiative
• Neutral Sentiment: Strategic Anthropic usage: Microsoft is integrating Anthropic models into products (a potential diversification of model supply), which could improve product performance but also shifts vendor exposure. Anthropic integration report
• Negative Sentiment: Rising AI vendor spend: Reports MSFT may spend ~ $500M/year on Anthropic models raise concern about higher operating/variable AI costs and margin pressure if revenue realization lags. Anthropic spending concern
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/rotation pressure: Tech re‑rating and Fed/rate uncertainty are prompting a growth‑to‑value rotation that disproportionately hurts large AI‑growth names like Microsoft. That broader market dynamic is a major near‑term headwind. Growth-to-value rotation
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive / sentiment hits: Alphabet’s rally (and other AI partnership headlines) and criticisms around Windows quality in niche areas have weighed on MSFT momentum, contributing to today’s larger decline vs. the broader market. Competitive pressure note

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total transaction of $1,364,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus set a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 5th. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Arete Research lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $630.37.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).